Heartbreakers: Treat Her Right / Mr November

Zack choked on the drink of cola he’d just taken, and slanted her an evil look. It was all she could do not to laugh.

He wanted her.

He didn’t want to want her, but he did. That was a good start. She could work with that.

On her end, she was crazy-nuts about him already. Not only was the man handsome and well built, but he had a soft streak for his daughter, an outrageous honesty, and his house was spotless. She’d never known a bachelor who enjoyed cleanliness as much as she did.

“Your house is set up different from mine.” She looked around, admiring the orderliness of it.

Zack lounged back in his seat. “It’s basically the same, I just had a few walls taken out to open things up.”

She’d have done the same if she could afford it, but for now, having her own home more than satisfied her. “It’s bigger, too.”

He shrugged. “Not by that much. I added on to the dining room when I got the hot tub, and had the patio doors put in.”

Wynn had noticed the large hot tub right away. It sat outside his dining room, to the left of his kitchen at the edge of the patio, and was partially shielded by a privacy fence.

The sliding doors really made the dining room bigger and brighter. Her house only had the one kitchen door that opened to the side yard. Wynn had noticed that from Zack’s kitchen or his patio doors, he could look at the entire side view of her house, and see into her front and backyard. The only thing that would obstruct his view were the trees.

This topic didn’t have him grinding his teeth, so she pursued it. “The landscaping in the back is gorgeous.” He had as many mature trees as she had, with one especially large tree close to the house. Long branches reached over the roof and shaded the kitchen from the afternoon sun. Zack had hung a swing from one of those sturdy branches for Dani.

Around the patio, he had a lot of lush ground cover and shade-loving flowers bright with color. It took a remarkable man to plant flowers, but then she’d already made that assessment about him.

“Thank you. I needed the covered deck so we could get to the tub in the winter without plodding through the snow.”

“You use it when it’s cold?” Imagining Zack mostly naked and wet made her tongue stick to the roof of her mouth. It’d be great if he offered to share, but she wouldn’t hold her breath.

He shrugged. “Off and on all year.”

Wynn cleared her throat and steered her mind to safer imaginings. “I like the way you’ve decorated. It’s nice and casual and comfortable.” Everything was done in mellow pine with shades of cream and greens. There were a few plants, lots of pictures of Dani, and a couple of photos she assumed to be of his deceased wife. The woman was pretty, fair like Dani, but with longer hair. She looked very young, and Wynn made a point of not looking at the photos too long, despite her curiosity; she didn’t want to dredge up bad memories for Zack. When she asked him about his wife, it would be without Dani listening.

“Can Wynn and me be excused now?”

Zack said, “May Wynn and I. And yes, you may. Wash your hands first, though.”

Dani ran to the sink, used the three-step stool in front of it, and turned on the water. Over her shoulder, she said to Wynn, “My stuff’s in my room.”

Wynn watched Zack push back his chair. He didn’t quite look at her. “I’ll go carry that box to the backyard for you while Dani shows you her new clothes.” He paused beside Dani, bent and kissed the top of her head. “I’ll be right back, okay?”

She nodded. “Okay.”

He went out the kitchen door and was gone before Wynn could agree or disagree.

When Dani dragged Wynn upstairs, she got a peek at the rest of his house. There wasn’t a speck of dust anywhere. Not that she was looking for dust, but the complete and total lack of it was evident, and impressive.

Everything was neat and orderly, except for Dani’s toys scattered here and there. She noticed two pine chests in the family room, one opened to reveal an assortment of dolls and games inside. The top of a desk was littered with crayons and construction paper and safety scissors.

She passed Zack’s bedroom at the top of the stairs and, hoping Dani wouldn’t notice, she peered in. More polished, heavy pine furniture filled the moderate size room. The bed was made up with a rich, dark-brown down comforter. A slight breeze wafted in through the open window, through which Wynn could just see Zack, in the corner of her yard, the large box hefted onto his shoulder.

They were of a similar height, but the difference in their strength was notable, and arousing. The box had been heavy and cumbersome to her, yet Zack handled it as if it weighed no more than a sack of flour.

She watched him for a long moment before it dawned on her that if she could see him now, he could see her...anytime she was in the yard.

She asked Dani, “Is this where you and your dad were when we first said hello, today?”

“Yeah, ’cept Dad was still in his underwear then ’cuz he’d just woke up.”

“I see.” Boy, did she see. Not wanting to give away her interest by lingering, she allowed Dani to hustle her along to her room. This time the furniture was white, with a pale yellow spread and yellow-striped wallpaper on the bottom half of the wall, topped by a white chair rail. An enormous corkboard hung behind the bed, filled to overflowing with pictures Dani had drawn.

With Dani’s bedroom on the same side of the house as Zack’s, Wynn was tempted to peek out the window again. Instead, she concentrated on the multitude of bags tossed onto Dani’s bed.

When Dani began pulling out the clothes, Wynn couldn’t help but laugh. Other than small detailing here and there, the clothes could have been for a boy. No frills for Dani, evidently. Wynn approved.

She and Dani spent a good fifteen minutes looking at everything, paying special attention to a tiny pair of rugged lace-up brown boots that would look adorable on Dani’s small feet.

Wynn commented on Dani’s obvious artistic talent, after which Dani determined to draw Wynn a picture. Since she didn’t want Wynn to watch, Wynn headed back downstairs. She found Zack in the kitchen, cleaning up the remains of their dinner. She picked up two glasses and carried them to the dishwasher. “I was going to help you with this.”

“No need.” He moved around her to the table and spent an inordinate amount of time crushing the pizza box.

It amused Wynn that he wouldn’t look at her. She leaned back against the sink, her hands propped on the counter at either side of her hips. “It’s the least I could do after imposing on you. Twice.”

Again, he moved around her to the garage door. He put the garbage in a can, secured the lid, and came back in. “You were invited.”

“Grudgingly.”

Zack paused, rubbed the back of his neck, flexed as if trying to rid himself of tension. When he looked at her, his eyes were a very dark blue. “I explained that, Wynn.”

“Indeed you did.” She crossed her ankles and watched his gaze flicker toward her legs and back again. How odd for him to be attracted to her while she was such a wreck. Odd, but exciting. “About the hammock...”

“What about it?”

“If you don’t want it in the trees, I can return it. We’re neighbors and the last thing I want to do is cause any hard feelings. I realize the trees are almost smack-dab on the borderline.”

He shook his head. “It’s not a problem.”

“That’s not the impression I got when I mentioned it.”

Head dropped forward, hands on his hips, he stopped. He stared at his feet for a long moment, then lifted his gaze to her face. “Look—”

The ringing of the phone made him pause. He took two almost angry strides to the phone on the wall and picked it up. “Hello?”

Wynn tried to look like she wasn’t listening, but it was apparent he was speaking with a friend. The infamous husband to a famous novelist? The lady-killer Josh?

A lady-friend of his own?

She didn’t like that idea at all, and went about wiping off the table, closing up the dishwasher. Zack watched her as he spoke casually, saying, “Sure, I could use the company. That’ll work. All right, fifteen minutes.” He hung up.

Dani bounded into the room, a colorful picture held in one hand. “Who was it?”